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Jury System in Hong Kong

Trial by jury is a legal proceeding in which the guilt or innocence of the defendant is determined by a jury. It is opposed to bench trial that all final judgments are made by a judge. In Hong Kong, as it is under the common law system, jury trials are used in serious criminal cases and also some civil cases, like murder, manslaughter, rape, civil fraud and defamation cases etc. In addition, the jury is formed by a group of eligible citizens which is selected by local population. The criteria for service as a jurors are 1) she/he is a resident of Hong Kong, 2) is between 21-65 years old, 3) is of good character and sound mind and 4) has a sufficient knowledge of both the language of English and Chinese. All these qualifications listed are ensure the juries have their ability to make the most appropriate verdict maturely and reasonably. To further assure the fairness, a jury usually comprises seven people and the verdict has to be reached by a majority of not less than five jurors (Jury Ordinance s.24). Apart from Hong Kong, jury trail is also used in many countries, like United Kingdom, United States, Russia, Canada and France etc. It means the maintenance of jury trial has its saving grace even in Hong Kong. However, there are still some criticisms to challenge the reliability and usefulness of the jury trial system. Therefore, I will try to evaluate the strengths and weakness of maintenance of jury trial in Hong Kong in the following passage.

In the first part, I will analyze the advantages of using jury trial in Hong Kong.

To begin with, trial by jury can erase the individual prejudices as the members of jury are from different backgrounds. There are a provisional list of jurors is held by The Registrar of the High Court, which consists of those people qualified in Hong Kong.*(1.28) Then, the court will further select from the list by ballot or by any other random selection methods to form the jury when the count need to summon a jury.*(1.29). Based on...

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Preface
The first edition of this booklet was published in 1991. Its stated aim was to help the public understand how our legal system works. It stressed the importance of the rule of law to Hong Kong's past success and future promise and emphasised the role that an informed public could play in ensuring the continued vitality of the legal system.
2007 marked the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the HongKong Special Administrative Region and the constitutional framework of Hong Kong's legal system has changed significantly since that first edition. But under the Basic Law of the Region, the laws previously in force have been maintained and adherence to the rule of law, buttressed by an independent judiciary, has remained a constant. With the establishment of the Court of Final Appeal in 1997 the power of final adjudication is now exercised in HongKong and the Basic Law provides constitutional protection for the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong's residents.
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...The JurySystem
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The jurysystem has been used for thousands of years to fairly determine innocence or guilt in a trial. Although not utilized as much as in the past it is still used for most criminal and some civil cases. This leads to an unjust legal system full of bias. The jurysystem was first seen in use by the ancient Greeks thousands of years ago[1]. Though the system was the fairest way to produce a verdict, it cannot apply today because society has endured a change which taints the foundation of a fair trial by jury. Juries are much more open to tampering by interested parties through which can be undetected by the authorities. Jurors can hold bias and prejudice against a defendant based on a variety of factors. To offset this there are many alternatives to replace the dated system to produce more just verdicts.
The jurysystem was developed by the ancient Greeks thousands of years ago. They called this system the “dikastaí” this system involved the selection of up to 500 citizens for normal cases. For capital cases the number of citizens enlisted ranged from 1001-1501[2]. This basic idea of a jurysystem is still used...

...﻿Introduction
The jurysystem is a legal system for determining the facts at issue in a criminal law suit. In Jamaica the government and court system affects the jurysystem immensely. As said by former minister of justice and security, Mr. K. D. Knight, in a gleaner article published Wednesday February 21, 2011, there is no intention to abolish the jurysystem, with that said the jurysystem can only be reformed. In the issue of the gleaner published on 6 July, 2013 the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said: ‘the Government must move quickly to fix the jurysystem as a shortage of persons to serve as jurors is a major contributor to the low case disposal rate in the nation’s courts.’ The DPP also recommended that the daily payment to persons serving as jurors be increased.
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In Ethnic Minorities in The Criminal Courts: Perception of Fairness and Equality of Treatment: Research by Hood, Shute and Seemungal stated that ‘jury member’s...

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